30 August 2010

Decadent Summer Delight: Cheesy Roasted Squash

I never thought to top summer squash with cheese, but it’s actually genius! Thanks to According to Lia for the easy summery recipe.

Make Lia’s Cheesy Roasted Squash!

27 August 2010

Dinner with Friends

• Me via email: We're planning on bringing dessert, but can we bring anything else tonight?

• Chris via email: You should bring a chocolate liqueur and a small watermelon.

26 August 2010

Honest Cravings

I wanted to take a quick second to talk about cravings. I think some cravings are honest — your body needs a certain nutrient and it’s trying to tell you the only way it knows how — but some cravings are dishonest. Dishonest cravings are primarily those that pop up for emotional/non-nutritional reasons. How can we tell the difference? It’s tricky, but possible.

Ask yourself:

• Was the craving triggered by seeing, smelling, or tasting a certain food? It’s probably not an honest craving.
• How long as the craving lasted? If it’s been less than a few hours, it’s probably not an honest craving.
• Did the craving directly follow some kind of emotional event? It’s probably not an honest craving.
• Have you had the craving for a day or two, tried to quench it with other things, and were unsuccessful? It might be a honest craving!

An example: A couple days ago, I had a craving for ice cream (SHOCK! No, not at all. I love ice cream). So obviously, I wrote it off because I love ice cream so much that I probably “crave” it all the time. But yesterday, I still was craving ice cream like a fiend. So I accepted my honest craving, got some ice cream, and now I’m good (for at least another few days!).

Another example: Yesterday, I started craving salad. A big, elaborate salad with lots of veggies, fat, and protein (learn to build a better salad here!). It’s been more than 24 hours and I STILL want a salad. So there’s no question in my mind: it’s an honest craving.

Cravings triggered by emotion or merely seeing the food aren’t necessarily to be avoided. I’m always in favor of listening to your body, and eating what you TRULY want most of the time. I just don’t believe you’d truly want ice cream, doughnuts, and Doritoes most of the time. I believe if you listen closely, and figure out your honest cravings, you’ll find your body creates a pretty good balance all by itself.

25 August 2010

Profile of a Healthy Eater: Kathleen

Hey, it’s a healthy eater! Her name is Kathleen, and she’d love a recipe for gluten-free pasta and will pass on the fake meat (but thanks for asking). Check out her profile to read more about her foodie style.

Kathleen hiking in Central California with a lemon-lime seltzer, her “absolute favorite thing to drink.”

1. What’s your foodie style? I try to eat as much unprocessed, all natural food as I can. Not too much meat. I’ve been experimenting in the past year— I was a vegetarian for 6 months, flirted with veganism, and now I’m eating meat again and trying gluten-free (as much as I can). I don’t eat processed sugar at all anymore because I get headaches from it. Makes fruit and honey that much sweeter! I live next to an organic farm, and love to eat local as often as possible!
2. Something people consider “healthy” that you think is anything but? Fake meat products. And I used to eat them All. The. Time. I think they are unhealthy for two reasons: 1) They are highly processed and full of weird stuff and 2) I think they are psychologically unhealthy. If you are trying to eat a healthier diet, you need to teach your body and mind to crave real, healthy food, not sub in fake, processed buffalo wings or chicken cutlets or burgers. 
3. Favorite food/health blog? Nutritionista for health! Also, I’m seriously addicted to Serious Eats, though it’s not really a health food blog… I think they have a fun, infectious love for food of all kinds, like me. 
4. Your go-to five-minute meal? Eggs, veggies and cheese in a corn or whole wheat tortilla. 
5. Perfect last meal? A classic French brasserie feast: start with escargot, artichokes and crusty bread. Then a gorgeous piece of trout or snapper over garlicky, buttery haricots verts and new potatoes. And of course, copious amounts of red wine.
6. Favorite method of cooking and why? I sautee something everyday, but I love, love, love to roast under the broiler. It’s super easy and makes everything delicious. 
7. Craziest diet you’ve ever tried? Never really tried a diet, but in college I once started the Perricone Prescription the day my boyfriend left for three months abroad. Never try to start a diet on that day… I think I ended the evening crying into a tuna noodle casserole, and scrapped the idea the next day. 
8. Restaurant you’d go to every day if you could? Bar Tabac in Brooklyn, NY or Justine’s Brasserie in Austin, TX.
9. Food/dish you’ve always wanted to learn how to cook, but haven’t? I really want to learn how to make fresh pasta… not sure how that’s going to go with my gluten-free kick… 
10. Dream dining companion? Jamie Oliver! I love his adorable British accent. We’d make risotto and talk about how bad processed food is for little kids.
    
    
    

Rachel Wilkerson on the Thing About Body Image

Rachel Wilkerson, friend and life coach expert on my YNC panel, wrote a post I just had to share with you all. There are a few words from her below, but please go read her full post!

Hey, everyone! Rachel Wilkerson here. I know everyone knows that Leah and I are blogging bffs, but you may not also know that I actually help her out with her nutrition consulting business. Sometimes, her clients want a little more than nutrition advice — they also want a friend to talk to, who understands what they are going through, and can provide an extra source of motivation. And that’s where I come in! My role as a life coach means I cover everything from how to get out of bed for a morning workout to how to deal with the emotional aspects of losing weight.

Last week, I was chatting with one of Leah’s clients about a problem she was having: the desire to lose weight, along with major guilt because of her desire to lose weight. It seems that now women are being told to love themselves with the same fervor that they are being told to lose weight. Ugh — we can’t win.

But if there’s one thing I hate, it’s being made to feel guilty about my choices — I believe in owning everything I do, and that’s what I told her client. We had a great chat and I later realized that this was a topic more women probably want to discuss. So I wrote a post about it for my blog, which I’m excited to share with all Nutritionista readers:

The Thing About Body Image

I want you all to know that you CAN love yourself and still want to lose weight. Don’t let people make you feel like it’s a choice.

Want to love yourself but still get support while you’re losing weight? Check out YNC!